TORONTO - Toronto has some of the "most intellectual" strippers in Canada.

On any given night, about 50% of the city's exotic dancers on the job are fresh-faced college or university students who are shedding their clothes to earn degrees, industry officials say.

A ban on imported foreign dancers in 2006 forced Toronto-area strip club owners to recruit elsewhere, and they now have hundreds of students from top colleges and universities taking to the stage after classes to earn tuition money.

"We have one of the most intellectual workforces in all of Canada," Tim Lambrinos of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada said. "Almost half of our dancers at some clubs are students."

Lambrinos said the students are recruited through word-of-mouth and make good dancers.

"They are professional, know what they want and are good workers. Some are very intellectual and want to know every aspect of the law."

Lambrinos said about 500 of the 1,500 registered dancers are students from Toronto, Ryerson and York universities, and Humber, Centennial and Seneca colleges. He said they represent about 50% of the 700-dancer workforce on any given night in Toronto.

Club officials said students can get a flat rate of $75 for a seven-hour shift, plus money earned in tips and table dancing.

Lambrinos said most of the students dance for about three years until they graduate.

"We were very surprised by the amount of students who work in clubs," he said. "These girls are very intelligent and they want to better themselves."

One downtown club owner said more than 50% of his dancers are students.

"We have had girls who are studying to be doctors and lawyers," the longtime owner said on the condition his name not be used. "They work very hard and are here on time."

He said one former dancer was given a scholarship to prestigious Harvard University in the U.S.

One dancer, who goes by the name of Nicole, said she stripped for four years while studying business administration at York University.

"It was very hard but I managed to do it and I am very proud," Nicole said. "I came from a poor family and dancing gave me an opportunity."

The single mom is now training to become the general manager of a club.

The Adult Entertainment Association, which represents 53 of the 140 strips clubs in Ontario, has been calling for more dancers ever since former immigration minister Judy Sgro resigned after extending the visa of a Romanian exotic dancer who had worked on her election campaign. Until then, foreign strippers had their visas fast-tracked to Canada.

In 2004, foreign strippers got 423 work permits and extensions. By 2006, the number was down to 17.